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President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has warned that if F-16 fighter jets provided to Ukraine by its Western allies operated from airfields in different international locations, the bases could be “authentic targets” for assault.
In a speech to Russian Air Force pilots late Wednesday, nevertheless, Mr. Putin rejected strategies from some Western leaders that Russia is planning to invade NATO international locations as “full nonsense.”
The menace that Russia may transfer towards different international locations has develop into one of many essential arguments utilized by the Ukrainian authorities and its supporters to attempt to persuade the U.S. to dispatch extra navy support to the nation.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, stated once more in an interview with CBS News revealed on Thursday that struggle “can come to Europe, and to the United States of America.”
“It can come in a short time to Europe,” stated Mr. Zelensky.
At the United Nations on Thursday, Russia vetoed a decision that might have prolonged U.N. oversight of sanctions tied to North Korea’s nuclear program, prompting accusations from Western nations that it was appearing to maintain the pipeline of weaponry open from the North Koreans to be used in Ukraine.
The Russian vote — a reversal from its previous assist for the monitoring program — drew condemnation from world leaders. In the United States, the White House nationwide safety spokesman, John Kirby, referred to as it a “reckless motion” that made clear the rising ties between Pyongyang and Moscow.
The vote got here a day after Mr. Putin visited the provincial city of Torzhok within the Tver area north of Moscow, the place he inspected a coaching middle for Russian navy pilots.
Speaking with the pilots, Mr. Putin stated that Russia spent solely a fraction on its navy of what the United States does. “Considering this distinction,” he stated, considerations that Moscow would battle NATO are “nonsense.”
Mr. Putin additionally reiterated his argument that NATO’s enlargement within the wake of the Soviet collapse was the first cause for his determination to assault Ukraine in 2022.
“Did we cross the ocean and strategy U.S. borders?” he requested. “No, they’re those who’re closing in on us, they usually have reached our borders.”
But Mr. Putin did depart open the door to an expanded battlefield when it got here to the choice by Ukraine’s allies to equip it with American-made F-16 fighter jets.
“F16 plane may carry nuclear weapons, and we should heed this whereas organizing our fight operations,” stated Mr. Putin.
At the United Nations on Thursday, Russia vetoed a decision that might have prolonged U.N. oversight of sanctions tied to North Korea’s nuclear program, prompting accusations from Western nations that it was appearing to maintain the pipeline of weaponry open from the North Koreans to be used in Ukraine.
Ukraine has additionally figured giant within the Kremlin’s response to the terrorist assault that killed at the very least 143 folks final week at a live performance corridor outdoors Moscow.
Since shortly after the assault, Mr. Putin and different Russian officers, with out proof, have depicted Ukraine because the doubtless mastermind behind it. Mr. Putin ultimately acknowledged that the assault had been “perpetrated by radical Islamists,” however caught with the rivalry that Ukraine may have ordered it.
On Thursday, persevering with in that vein, Russia’s investigative committee, the nation’s equal to the F.B.I., stated in a press release that it had “obtained proof” that the attackers had been “linked with Ukrainian nationalists,” with out specifying what that proof was.
Investigators stated that they’d “confirmed information that the perpetrators of the terrorist assault obtained vital quantities of cash and cryptocurrency from Ukraine, which had been utilized in getting ready the crime.” They additionally stated that one other particular person had been arrested in reference to the assault and would quickly seem in court docket.
The Ukrainian authorities has denied any involvement within the assault. The United States and different Western governments have stated repeatedly that the Islamic State — which itself has issued two claims of accountability — was behind the assault and that Ukraine was not concerned.
With 74 victims of the live performance corridor assault nonetheless hospitalized, Mr. Putin has but to go to them or to go to the location of the assault. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman stated on Thursday that Mr. Putin had been closely concerned within the rescue effort on the evening of the assault, and {that a} go to to the location of the assault would hinder their work.
Emin Agalarov, an govt with the proprietor of the live performance corridor, the Crocus Group, on Thursday defended how his employees had dealt with the assault and its aftermath, together with a hearth within the corridor, and the constructing’s compliance with hearth security and safety necessities. Speaking on state tv, Mr. Agalarov stated that the fireplace and different emergency programs had labored usually and allowed hundreds of individuals to evacuate the constructing.
